Partial Government Shutdown Has Ripple Effect

With the partial federal government shutdown now in its third week, the ripple effects can be felt from coast to coast.
And for many furloughed government workers, the impact is hitting them right where they live.
Rene Marsh reports.
"I'm non essential."
The day before the government shutdown, CNN met Dee Alexander, a secretary at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
"You don't really know what might happen, because you don't know how long it is going to last," she says.
Two weeks later, the shutdown is still in effect and Alexander has stopped paying her car loan.
"Do you decide that I'm going to have somewhere to live or do you decide that I'm going to pay my car note. And then do you also have to figure out, what about food?" she asks.
On Saturday, she received the last paycheck she'll get until the government reopens, $600 less than usual.
Some of the furloughed workers have turned to food banks for help, like this one in Maryland.
" What I keep hearing over and over is 'I never thought I'd need a food pantry. But here I am.'" says Debber Webber, food pantry manager.
The ripple effect of the shutdown also means no more car recalls.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has stopped looking for automobile defects.
And, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped tracking infectious diseases like the flu, something the agency's former director says could have dire consequencies.
"I can attest to the very real potential for unnecessary pain, suffering and death, when the work of public health officials is curtailed," David Satcher wrote in an op-ed.
And, in South Dakota, ranchers digging out after an unexpected blizzard, are dealing with tens of thousands of dead cattle.
Call the U.S. Department of Agriculture for disaster assistance and this is all they hear.
"The U.S. Department of Agricultural offices are currently closed due to the lapse in federal government funding. The office will reopen once Congress restores funding."
CNN's Rene Marsh says, "Well at that one food pantry we showed you in the piece, roughly 200 people received food. Now that's on top of the food that same group passed out to families last week. Clearly, after receiving that final paycheck, families are now beginning to feel the pinch."